My Running Story

I haven’t always been a runner. Far from it actually. I was always of the “can’t/won’t/don’t run” mindset. I think I even failed the mile run in high school by not finishing in 15 minutes. That solidified it in my mind, I just wasn’t a runner.

I stuck to the elliptical and bike for exercise during college but then I went through a pretty rough patch during sophomore year and after reading countless articles saying that running is a great mood-lifter with all those endorphins I decided to give it another go. I used to go out in my worn out $20 sneakers and jog for like 30 seconds and then walk for a while and eventually I worked up to a system of jogging for a song on my ipod, then walking for a song. I was definitely improving. Then I went to Israel for the summer and was having too much fun with boys and beaches to think about running–not to mention I was in the desert…not exactly running conditions!

I studied abroad in Spain the next semester and wanted to get serious again. I joined a gym and hopped on the treadmill and started off jogging for 5 minutes and slowly but surely working my way up to jogging 25 minutes straight. I was so proud of myself. The best part of that story is that I didn’t realize until months into my workouts that the treadmill was measuring kilometers instead of miles! I honestly thought that I had worked my way up to running 5 miles pretty effortlessly 😉 Oh well, it definitely helped boost my confidence and made me feel like a real runner.

I was hooked! I came back to the US and just kept running! Too much actually because at the beginning of senior year I was running 5-6 days a week and after a 10 mile run which I was not at all prepared for (I meant to go 6 miles but ended up getting lost! haha oops!) I got a stress fracture in my left leg and was in pretty rough shape. I eventually recovered (even though it still to this day hurts from time to time) and once I got home for the summer I signed up for my very first race! A 10k! My dad was there to cheer me on and I loved every second of it.

Since then I’ve raced in 3 10ks but haven’t been very consistent in my running schedule. This past year since graduation has been the biggest roller coaster of my entire life. I had no idea it was possible to be so up and also so down. My workouts have been all over the place too with periods of obsession with p90x, spinning, weight lifting, and pure laziness.

So that’s that! I still don’t know if I consider myself “a runner”. Maybe that will change after this race? I’ll keep you posted!